Contentment, Discipline and Obedience

During my last trip to Kenya I spoke at a church about contentment and discipline. That day I was focusing on financial freedom in Christian but now, months later, God is teaching me a lesson about contentment and discipline, about obedience.

Two passages from the Bible come to mind about contentment.

Matthew 6:24-34 NIV
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. [25] "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? [26] Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? [27] Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ? [28] "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. [29] Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. [30] If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? [31] So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' [32] For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. [33] But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. [34] Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Hebrews 13:4-6 NIV
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. [5] Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." [6] So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"

Here, in Hebrews, the Word of God speaks of contentment. Certainly we may deduce from that context that contentment, the grace of contentment, for those who are married is to be found in the way of living in their marriage in obedience to God. That is the way we experience contentment in all of our life.We must be content.

Contentment is the grace of being satisfied in the Lord's provision. Contentment is faith which understands that my life is not by chance but that it is all controlled of God and that God has purposed an eternal love to save me and to work all things for my good. Contentment is having your heart set on the kingdom of God and enjoying the peace of God in your soul. That is contentment.We have so much! Yet we are filled with discontentment. The cure for our discontentment is not a monastery, but we must look to how we live in our marriages, in this blessing.

A covetous man cannot see God's blessing. And covetous men and women are angry men and women. They cannot have what they want and they blame each other that they cannot have it and they have much strife.To experience God's blessing in a marriage we must practice contentment with what the Lord has given to us.

In the passages above there is one key to this great truth. The key that unlocks the way to true contentment.

Matthew 6:33 NIV
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

This is a lesson we must all apply daily to our lives. A discipline that I struggle with, time and time again...... "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness..." if we get this right then there is a promise attached, "and all these things will be given to you as well."

True contentment only comes through obedience, obedience to God! This is true in every part of our lives. At the moment, I am learning this is especially true in marriage.

I thank God for the gift He has given me in my gorgeous wife, Linda.

Proverbs 31:10-11 NIV
A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. [11] Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.

Proverbs 31:26 NIV
She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

Proverbs 31:29-30 NIV
"Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all." [30] Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

2010 Trip - 28th August

Well, today was the last day of the seminar and because of the long "short" talks, a long session regarding marriage and the new Kenyan constitution, we didn't get to do what we had planned. Oh well.
We had a great "sex" talk by a Kenyan bishop that made us laugh so much. And we were worried about talking on marital intimacy. Ha!
We had an amazing afternoon. Together with 2 bishops, we married 5 couples and prayed over every other couple present, about 75 couples all up. It was a humbling and at the same time an exciting experience.
It has been wonderful to see changes in marriages and attitudes towards marriages. Even though we have been with them for only 3 days we have seen some dramatic changes. We have been so blessed by the people. We have felt like celebrities (see the banner photo from yesterday) and everyone constantly wants to shake our hands and have photos taken with us. We have learnt so much! It has been beyond our expectations.
It was announced at the closing of the seminar that this will be an annual event and we have been officially invited to return each year.

2010 Trip - 27th August

Well, what a blessing today was!
Each morning has started late with few people but by the end of the day the place is full and jumping. We weren't sure on day one if they were on the same page as us about wanting their marriages to be different. We were so encouraged during today when both men and women were sharing and encouraging each other to be different to their culture (in East Africa the man is the authoritative boss) and be more biblical in their love for their partners. They spoke about wanting to be different but also acknowledged that change will be difficult. Today we saw and heard many breakthroughs!
These are pastors and church leaders and many are planning to return to their churches and challenge the men and women in their congregations about their relationships. We give the honour and glory to God for how he has broken down barriers and is working in the lives of these couples.

2010 Trip - ready to go!

Linda and I leave Australia on Tuesday on our long awaited 2010 trip.

We will spend the first 2 weeks in Kenya. The first week we are running a Marriage Enrichment Conference for over 50 pastor couples from Kenya and Uganda. We will also catch up with many of our friends in Kenya and we have some work to do for Kenya Help. Please pray for us as we visit Kenya again and that God would use us to minister to these pastor couples.

After Kenya, we head off to Hungary to see where Linda's father grew up and also catch up with some family. Then we're cruising from Budapest to Amsterdam.

We will post updates here when we are able - internet access permitting.

Video from CMEA Conference

A video of the one of the keynote speakers at the CMEA NSW 2010 Marriage Enrichment Conference is now online on the CMEA web-site. Look under Resources/Videos.

Couples for Marriage Enrichment Australia

Couples for Marriage Enrichment Australia is an organisation which exists to enhance and enrich the marital relationship between a man and a woman. Activities include weekend marriage enrichment retreats, shorter seminars and local support groups, training of marriage enrichment leader couples and the publication of regular newsletters. Some of these events are sponsored by community groups and churches.
For more information and to see how your marriage can be enriched, see their web-site www.bettermarriages.org.au

Are You Good or Are You Great?

Author: Heather Long

Would you call your relationship good or would you call it great? A great relationship isn't the product of a storybook tale that just happens when a fairy godmother waves her magic wand. They happen because you take charge and you make it happen. To have a great relationship, you need to be great.

The things you accomplish do not define greatness, but how you accomplish them makes a huge difference. So how can you be great in your relationship? First and foremost, does your spouse know where they stand with you? Do they feel adored? Do they know they come first? Do you tell them you don't have time for them? When you're great to your partner, they feel it and more often than not - they reciprocate it.

Selfish Patterns of Desire

As a species, we are naturally selfish. Our desires are strong - it's that selfish desire to be with our partners that likely flared when you first met them or began to date them. The need to please each other often meant giving in to each other's selfish desires, but part of building a great relationship comes from putting your partner first and squashing selfishness when it comes to deciding what course of action you will take.

In great marriages, your focus is on your partnership in all things. Those connections are not ignored in parenting decisions, financial decisions or career decisions. Your focus should not be on the temporal pleasures of the moment - yes, going out to the movies with your friends may seem like a fantastic time, but what does your spouse think? Do I mean you need to subjugate every decision to your spouse? No, but it's a form of courtesy, consideration and caring to ask them if they mind.

My husband enjoys going out with his co-workers and friends. But he doesn't make major plans without consulting me and often finding a way to include me if I want to go along. He is thinking of our partnership first, before his own desire. If I really wanted to do something at the same time with him or if there were plans that we wanted to go - say to the same film as a couple - that takes precedence over these other plans.

Don't Be Self-Centered

When you are self-centered in your marriage and your choices in that marriage, you tend to be very lonely. Selfishness is one of the worst flaws you can bring into a marriage and while selfishness is a necessary part of our existence, recognizing that it can hamper our relationships is an important step. Remember, selfish doesn't have to mean you are mean or mean-spirited, it just means you think of yourself first.

First and foremost, take a look at how you make your decisions and your choices - do you just go and do something, because asking for forgiveness is easier than asking permission?

That's selfish.

Do you make plans with your friends and your co-workers, but cite the need to work or other plans when your spouse does the same so you don't have to go with them?

That's selfish.

Do you decide what bills will get paid, choosing your own personal entertainments for the excess spending rather than compromising with your spouse on their choices?

That's selfish.

We're going to talk more about this trend for building a great marriage out of a 'good' one or an 'okay' one over the next few days - but take a look at how you make your choices and your decisions. Do you think about your spouse, do you ask for their input? Do you take that input seriously? Or are your decisions selfish?

Five Ways to Improve your Marriage

Author: Tom Tyndall (www.greatmates.org)

1. Listen. Actively.
We’re not kidding here. Research from PREP, Inc. says THE Number One Killer of marriages today is NOT LISTENING. Ever heard your spouse say, “Honey, you’re just not listening”? Then you are a carrier of this killer (so are Tom and Betty by the way). Even if you just ask your spouse, “What did you just hear me say?” and your spouse mouths back nearly word-for-word, “I heard you say that you were unhappy at work today because….”, just do that much and you’re working at listening. Most often we do not have to “fix” what is wrong with our partner, just try to understand how they feel about an incident. Want more help? Check out “The Floor” at www.prepinc.com.

2. Handle conflict safely.
Most people think that fighting, or even disagreeing, leads to divorce, so they work to avoid conflict. Research says the opposite. ALL couples (including the couples you admire most) have conflicts. The biggest predictor of divorce is the AVOIDANCE of conflict. Ironically, the biggest predictor of success in marriage is how you choose to handle conflict. There is a time to handle disagreements but it’s NOT when you face a deadline, are out in public, you’ve got an event staring you in the face or when you are tired or confused. Dates, fun times, romantic times are also NOT the time to solve conflicts or even discuss them. Schedule a calm time to solve a problem when you can give it full attention. Keep conflict time separate from other activities in your marriage or eventually you will dread being around each other.

Try to separate problem discussion from the time to work on problem solutions. We’ve also found, again research based, that hurried solutions to conflicts are often poor solutions. Most of us have lost the fine art of negotiating, a skill we need for getting a job, buying a car, raising teenagers or getting along with office colleagues and your spouse. You may even have to draw up your own list of rules (avoid yelling, profanity, getting off topic) and post them on the refrigerator if that helps.

3. Compliment and encourage each other.
It’s just too easy to pick on each other’s weaknesses or faults, but harder though more rewarding to say, “Hey, that’s a very creative idea!” “Boy, you did that well.” “I appreciate your sense of humor.” We thrive on compliments, which is different from flattery (”Wow, do you look great in THAT!” Flattery is okay at the right time). Most of us remember the compliments from friends, even total strangers, but we do well to hear affirmation first from our partner.

4. Have a weekly date.
Why does the wedding ceremony end the one activity that got you to the altar? You need dates even MORE after the wedding when chores, house duties, bills, eventually children, pets, and deadlines quickly take the time away. Keep a “Great Date” list if you have to of things you have loved doing together or would like to try. Betty and Tom have expanded this to even give permission once in a great while to ask for an “emergency date” with an hour’s notice, usually when one of us is exhausted and needing a meal out at a favorite restaurant. Consider also a weekend away as a couple or go on a marriage retreat together.

5. Surprise each other with treats.
Something as simple as a favorite coffee or tea, decoration, movie rental, or a brief book to read together says, “I’m thinking of you; I value you.”